It’s Corn-y!

As I was beginning to wonder how I’d survive the absence of Mangoes and Jack-fruits, because they aren’t in season anymore, Hyderabad was painted yellow once again. Now the streets are dotted with vendors selling Corn, not the sweet, juicy, soft-to-the bite, plump American Corn, but the chewy, hardy, lithe Indian Corn.
On a rainy day, when we go for a long drive to the outskirts of Hyderabad where our Farmhouse is located, we like to stop to buy a few ears of grilled Corn. My mother-in-law spots the vendor with the best-looking Corn out of the many lining beside the highway. She carefully picks the tender-looking ones with many grains and hands them to the vendor, who then grills them on a platter filled with briquettes of charcoal. Along with the smoky flavor, the Corn assumes the salt-and-sour taste of a lemon-half patted on a plate of salt and rubbed on the corn.

Corn is also grown in abundance in Karnataka, where I grew up. An ear of corn is grilled to perfection and painted with a mouth-watering green Chilli concoction that I absolutely love but my husband thinks is pretty unhealthy (“Don’t know which water they use to prepare it!”). I think he’s just jealous! (He roots for Hyderabad and its delicacies while I’m a Bengaluru girl through and through!)

It doesn’t matter what it is cloaked in, a grilled Corn is one of the healthiest, tastiest snacks there is. All of us love to pry the kernels of Corn off its cob , including the littlest member of our family. It is one of our favorite pastimes.